| 000 -LEADER |
| fixed length control field |
01294nam a22001577a 4500 |
| 008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION |
| fixed length control field |
220913b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d |
| 100 ## - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
| Personal name |
Yelle, Robert A. |
| 245 ## - TITLE STATEMENT |
| Title |
Was Aśoka really a secularist avant-la-lettre? Ancient Indian pluralism and toleration in historical perspective |
| 260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (IMPRINT) |
| Place of publication, distribution, etc |
Modern Asian Studies |
| 300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION |
| Extent |
56(3), May, 2022: p.749-775 |
| 520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC. |
| Summary, etc |
Focusing on Rajeev Bhargava's claim that Aśoka was a secularist avant-la-lettre, I dispute the common understanding of secularism as the separation of religion and politics, and argue instead that such separation, to the extent that it existed, was characteristic of traditional religious societies. I then offer an alternative history of secularism as the demise of the traditional balance of power between church and state, and the rise of a unitary state which incorporated a civil religion that excluded competing forms of religiosity within its domain. This model of secularism, exemplified by the seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, fits Aśoka's Dhamma better than the separationist model does. – Reproduced |
| 650 ## - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM |
| Topical term or geographic name as entry element |
Asoka, Rajeev Bhargava, Thomas Hobbes, Secularism, Toleration. |
| 9 (RLIN) |
32879 |
| 773 ## - HOST ITEM ENTRY |
| Main entry heading |
Modern Asian Studies |
| 906 ## - LOCAL DATA ELEMENT F, LDF (RLIN) |
| Subject DIP |
INDIA - HISTORY |
| 942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA) |
| Item type |
Articles |